BAGUIO CITY – As part of the Department of Agriculture Cordillera’s (DA-CAR) support to local actions on climate adaptation and mitigation, a handbook on Climate Resilient Agriculture (CRA) containing a complete account of information on the farming ecosystems in the region will soon be available for the sectors involved in the agriculture sector.
Crisante Rosario, DA-CAR Adaptation and Mitigation Initiative in Agriculture (AMIA) focal person, explained that after its final review on the third quarter of this year, the handbook will soon be available for use particularly by farmers, local government units, agriculture extension workers, and students, providing them with the necessary information on the impact of climate change to the agriculture industry in the region.
“Our objective is to review our initiatives on the compendium or the compiled known information and knowledge on climate resilient agriculture and practices initially incorporated in the handbook, but will be validated based on the expertise of our representatives from the different banner programs, research, including the agriculture program coordinating offices of the DA, making this as the output of our regional office,” Rosario said.
The CRA handbook focuses on three pillars, particularly adaptation, productivity, and mitigation for farming areas in the highland portions of the Cordilleras that produce vegetables, aside from the impact of climate change in the lowland areas of the region that produce rice, corn, and lowland vegetables.
The draft handbook initially presents the climate change hazards, a summary of vulnerable areas in CAR, CRA technologies and practices, and indigenous agriculture knowledge.
“Another objective of this handbook is to incorporate the mitigation and adaptation aspect wherein technology to be developed or used must answer for the hazard brought about by climate change, aside from the handbook addressing a particular CRA practice,” Rosario added.
Implemented in 2014, the AMIA Program seeks to enable the small agriculture and fisheries communities in the Philippines to adapt to the challenges brought by climate change, thus sustaining their livelihoods.
The common diversified systems introduced in the AMIA villages are crop rotation, alternate cropping, crop–livestock/poultry-fishery integration, and agroforestry in the uplands, with these systems providing livelihood diversification, with alternative livelihood sources in case of crop failure due to climate-related calamities. By JTLlanes
